Switch.



PATBNTED JAN. 13,v 19os. A. 1*. SWBIGART.

SWITCH.

4APPLICATION FILED 0011.11, 1901.

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N0 MODEL.

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No. 718,229. PATBNTED JAN.'13, 1903.

A. P. SWEIGART.

l SWITCH.

. APPLIoATroN FILED no1. 11, i901. No MODEL.

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N10. 718,229. v1.1111111311 JAN. 13,1903.v

A. P. SWBIGART..

SWITCH. APPLICATION HD21) 0011.11, 1901. H0 MODEL. 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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Ninn STATES ATENT FFICE.

AMOS F. SWEIGART, OF LONGHORNE, PENNSYLVANIA.

SWITCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 718,229, dated January13, 1903.

.Application filed October 11, 1901l Serial No. 78,380. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom, t may concern.-

Be it known that I, AMos F. SWEIGART, a citizen of the United States,residing at Longhorne, in the county of Bucks, State of Pennsylvania,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Switches; and I dohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to whichit 1o appertains to make and use the same.

zo object of the invention being to provide a construction wherein bythe operation of a single lever the several movable rails will beshifted simultaneously into corresponding positions and will bevlockedin their adjusted positions, whereby guard-rails will be dispensed withand accidents will be avoided.

In the drawings forming a portion of this specification, and in whichlike numerals of reference indicate similar parts in the several 3oviews, Figure -1 is a top plan view showing a 4o 5 5 of Fig. 1.

complete mechanism embodying the present invention. Fig. 2 is a sideelevation of the structure. Fig. 3 is a section on line' 3 3 ,of

Fig. 1 and showing the mechanism for throwing a pair of movable railsand the mechanism for operating the locking-bolts. Fig. 4 is an enlargedtop plan view with portions of the rails broken away and showing thelocking mechanism. Fig. 5 is a section on line Fig. 6 is a section online 6 6 of Fig. 1. Fig. 7 is a section on line 7 7 of Fig. 1. Fig. 8 isa perspective View of the switch-stand and the connected ends of theshifting-rods.

Referring now to the drawings, there are shown two trackways, one ofwhich includes the pair of movable rails 10 and 11, while the otherincludes the pair of movable rails 12 and 13, other rails being disposedat the fixed 5o ends of the movable rails, as usual.

or registration with the pairs of rails 14 and 16 and 15and 17,respectively, the rails 14 and 16 being included in the main trackway,while the rails 15 and 17 are iixed crossoverrails.

The free end of the movable rail 12 is adapted to register with therails 18 and 19, while the free end of the rail 13 is adapted toregister with the rails 2O and 21, rails 19 and 21 being main-trackrails of the second track, while the rails 18 and 2O arecrossover-rails. The rail 18 registers with a fixed crossover-rail 22adjacent to a mainetrack rail 23, while the crossover-rail 17 registerswith a rail 24 adjacent to a fixed rail 25, the rails 23 and 25 beingmain-track rails.

The rails 19 and 2O converge, as shown, and form aY, as do also therails 24 and 25, the stems of lthe Ys being toward each other, andbetween these mutually-adjacent ends is disposed a movable rail 26.Through the rail 26, adjacent to rail 25, is formed a slot through whichis passed an arcuate metal plate 27, the ends of which are bentdownwardly and secured to a tie 28 of therailway, and between this slotand the end of the rail is formed a perforation through which is passeda rod 29, mounted in ears 30 upon the tie 28, and upon the rod and ateach side of the rail is disposed a helical spring 31, so that therail-section is held pivotally upon the rod. In the opposite end of therail-section is a transverse slot through which is passed a plate 32,having its ends bent downwardly and secured upon the tie 33, this plateacting as a guide-plate for .the rail. Thus when rails 12 and 13 are inregistration with rails 19 and 21 and rail-section 26 is in registrationwith rail 19 the main line is open; but when the rails 12 and 13 areshifted to register with rails 18 and 2O and rail 26 is shifted toregister with rail 2O a train may move from rails 12 and 13 to rails 14and 22. To permit a train to move from rails 14 and 22to rails 15 and17, a movable rail 34 is disposed between the pair of converging rails23and 22 andthe pair of converging rails 15 and 16. The rail 34 isperforated through its end adjacent to rail 22, and through thisperforation is engaged a rod 35, mounted in ears 36 upon the tie 37,helical springs 38 being disposed upon the rod at opposite sides of andbearing upon IOO the rail to hold it yieldably, so that a pivotalmounting is secured. Adjacent to each end of the rail is formed atransverse slot, and through these slots are passed the guideplates 38and 39, having their ends bent downwardly and secured to the ties. Whenthe rail 34 is shifted to register with rails 15 and 22, a train uponrails 22 and 24 may pass onto the rails 1O and 11 of the second maintrackway. Vhen the rail 34 is shifted to register with rails 16 and 23,the second main trackway, which includes rails 10 and 11, is openthrough.

It will be noted that the rails 10 and 11 and rails 12 and 13 aresecurely fastened by crossbraces 40 and 4l, respectively, while they arelimited in their movements by the guideplates 42 and 43, which arepassed through openings in the rails and have their ends turneddownwardly and secured to adjacent ties. Furthermore, to hold the railsyieldably spaced at their rear portions U-shaped springs 45 and 46 areprovided and have their ends engaged with the rails, while their bightsare engaged with blocks 47 and 48, disposed between the rails andsecured to ties. In connection with these movable rails there areprovided means for shifting them simultaneously into cooperativepositions to open both trackways straight through or to open thecrossover and also means for locking the movable rails in their shiftedpositions.

For shifting therailsa shaft 50is provided, which is mounted in bearingsin plates 5l, secured to suitable supports, and which shaft is providedat one end with a lever 52 for oscillating it, while at intervals of thelength of the shaft are secured upwardly-directed crank-arms 53, 54, and55. A lever 56 is pivoted upon a tie 57, and to one end of this lever ispivoted a connecting-rod, which is pivoted in turn to the rail 1l, whileto the opposite end of the lever is pivoted a connectingrod 58, havingits outer end turned laterally and engaged with the lever-arm orcrank-arm 53, whereby when shaft 50 is oscillated the movable rails 10and 1l will be correspondingly thrown.

To throw the movable rails 26 and 34 simultaneously in oppositedirections,eitl1er toward oraway from each other, two angular levers 59and 60 are provided and are mounted for movement in a horizontal planeupon the ends of corresponding ties. With one arm of thelever 59 isconnected a rod 6l, attached at its opposite end pivotally to a bolt 62,engaged with the rail 34, said arm lying parallel with the rail andhaving an upwardlydirected ear 63, with which is pivotally engaged onelaterally-turned end of a connecting link or rod 64, having its oppositelaterally-turned end engaged pivotally through a perforation in thecrank-arm, so that when the shaft 50 is rocked the lever 59 will bemoved to throw rail 34. From the second arm of lever 59, which lies atright angles to the first arm,

there extends a connecting-rod 65, pivote'd at its opposite end to oneend of the angular lever 60, lying substantially parallel with said armof lever 59, the second arm of lever 60 being connected by link or rod66 with the rail 26. As the rails are shifted both from the lever 59 andthe levers 59 and 60 move in opposite directions, the rails will bemoved in opposite directions upon operation of the shaft 50.

To lock the movable rails in their adjusted positions, sliding bolts areprovided. Between the convergent ends of rails 2O and 2l is disposed abolt 67, mounted in the bearingplate 68, on which the ends of the railsare secured and having an upwardly-directed portion 69, which extends upbetween the webs of the rails, a second similar bolt 70 being mounted inthe bearing-plate 71 under the ends of rails 18 and 19 and having anupwardly-directed portion lying between the webs of said rails. Thusafter the rails 12 and 13 have been shifted these bolts may be drawnoutwardly, so that the upwardly-extending portions thereof will liepartly against the side faces of the rails 13 and 14 to prevent returnmovement of said rails. To throw the bolts in and out, a bell-cranklever 72 is mounted transversely of and beneath the rails, the twocranks 73 and 74 thereof being engaged with perforations in the ends ofthe bolts, so that by rocking the bell-crank lever the bolts will bemoved simultaneously.

Bolts 75 and 76 are mounted in the bearingplates beneath the convergentends of rails 14 and 15 and 16 and 17, for movement to lie against theside faces of rails 10 and 11, and which bolts are connected with thecranks 77 and 78 of a bell-crank lever 79, passed transversely of andbeneath the rails.

A bolt 80 is mounted in the plate 81 beneath the convergent ends ofrails 19 and 2O for movement to lie alternately against opposite facesof the rail 26 and is connected with the crank 82 of a bell-crank leverdisposed transversely beneath the rail. The bell-crank levers all extendlaterally and have their end cranks pivotally connected with a shift-rod83, with which is also connected the fourth bell-crank lever 84. Lever84 has its crank 84 connected to a bolt 86, slidably mounted in plate87, beneath the convergent ends of rails 15 and 16, for movement toengage its upwardlyextending portion with the side faces alternately ofthe rail 34. The shiftrod is connected with lever 52 at one end formovement by it to shift the whole number of bell-crank levers to movethe bolts simultaneously either inwardly or outwardly.

With this construction it will be seen that by operation of a singlelever the whole number of movable rails will be shifted and the boltswill be actuated to lock the rails in their shifted positions.

In practice modifications of the specific construction shown may be madeand any suit- IOO IIO

shaft having arms connected with the bolts for reciprocating them, ashift-rod connected with the rock-shaft for oscillating it, an angularoperating-lever having one end connected with the shift-rod, and arock-shaft parallel with the shift-rod and having operative connectionwith the movable rails, said rock-shaft having an upwardly-extending armengaged with the opposite end of the angular lever from the shift-rod,whereby when the angular lever is operated, the shiftrod and thelast-named rock-shaft will be reciprocated and oscillated respectively.

2. In a switch mechanism, the combination with convergent rails of aswitch-tongue pivotally mounted at one end adjacent to the convergentends of the rails, and means for .holding the pivoted end of theswitch-tongue yieldably against bodily lateral movement.

3. In a switch mechanism the combination with convergent rails, of aswitch-tongue, a transverse bolt passed through the -switchtongue at itsend adjacent to the convergent rails and on which the switch-tongue ispivotal and laterally slidable, a helical spring upon the bolt at eachside of the switchtongue for holding the tongue yieldably againstlateral bodily movement, an arcshaped guide-plate passed through theswitchtongue and with respect to which the switchtongue is movable andshifting means connected with the switch-tongue.

In testimony whereof I afx my signature in presence of two witnesses.

AMos F. SWEIGART.

